Are 37% of American Women Stuck Being the Breadwinners in Their Marriage?

My friend Lisa Graas agrees with Fox News Commentator Megan Kelly that it is a major cultural shift. Over half of these women are, as you would expect, single moms who are not getting enough child support. I have written many times about the scandal of the high rates of single parenthood, so I won't address this here. I want to address the 37%  of breadwinners who are married mothers and are perhaps under pressure from their husbands because they make more money. Lisa Graas quoted the Pew Poll;

From the poll, quoted verbatim:

About three-quarters of adults (74%) say the increasing number of women working for pay has made it harder for parents to raise children, and half say that it has made marriages harder to succeed. At the same time, two-thirds say it has made it easier for families to live comfortably.

 I was in that category as a newlywed, pregnant mother. It is a very difficult situation but I found a solution I want to share.

I remember being well employed as a teacher in 1992 while pregnant with my first child. My dear husband was laid off every winter from his construction job (he was an immigrant who had only a GED and few marketable skills, I had a Master's in Education) As a practicing Catholic, I went to a Mother's Retreat and laid my case before God. Within the next month, my husband was offered a job connecting cable TV while our TV was being connected in our living room. My husband was on layoff from work.  Only God could have arranged that! When I was laid off in June, I was able to stay home with my newborn, after having hospital expenses covered by my job and FIVE baby showers.

My husband still works in the cable field, he is now a supervisor with a college degree and I have worked part time teaching at a local college or out of my home as a daycare provider for the past 20 years. We own three homes (two are income properties which we rent out) and are putting our girls through college. Don't ask me how old our cars are or the last time we took a family vacation. Our home is modestly furnished and I do my own house painting and gardening. We made many sacrifices for me to be a full time mom to our three girls. I homeschooled for a dozen years and have a full time volunteer ministry KIDS(Keep Infants with Down Syndrome) and a book (A Special Mother is Born). I only make enough money to cover travel expenses as I spread the word that life is beautiful when you love someone with special needs.

My point is, give your situation to God and be willing to compromise on your luxuries, and you will find time to be present for your children. Motherhood the most important job you will ever have. Your children won't remember how expensive your furniture is but they will remember the fun you had together, riding bikes, baking, or just doing the everyday things. You will have many years after they leave home to buy yourself things, but I suspect they won't replace the joy you experienced in the presence of your family.


"Earthly riches are like the reed. Its roots are sunk in the swamp, and its exterior is fair to behold; but inside it is hollow. If a man leans on such a reed, it will snap off and pierce his soul".

 ~ St. Anthony of Padua

Dr Henry Morgentaler dead at 90, Godfather of Abortion in Canada wanted Mother's Love.

He is responsible for the death of millions of unborn babies, both by his own hand and from his relentless activism in support of abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
 He sponsored Canada's abortion policy, which is as broad as that in the USA, abortion throughout all nine months, for any reason whatsoever. For that reason he is called the Godfather of Abortion in Canada. His legacy is one of unspeakable evil.

And he did it all because his Mama loved his baby brother more than he. Really. Even being a survivor of the Holocaust does not seem to have as profound an effect on this twisted soul. He spent years in Freudian therapy to no avail trying to overcome what his young heart perceived as rejection when his mother had a baby.

Don't believe it? Read his own words in an interview quoted by Life Site News.

Morgentaler: 'My whole life has been devoted to doing things to get me the love of women'
Morgentaler is well known for being a philanderer, having been married three times, and having had affairs with many other women while married. "I’d say my whole life has been devoted to doing things to get me the love of women," the abortionist candidly admitted in one clip from a deeply personal interview that aired on CBC in 2008.

When asked why he has had so many relationships over the years, Morgentaler - who told interviewer Evan Solomon later in the interview that he has been receiving Freudian therapy for "a long time" - responded: "What explains it is my inordinate need to be loved by women.
"Some time along my emotional development," he continued, "I got the impression that my mother didn’t love me, because there was a younger baby that she devoted a lot of attention to, which happens in many families I guess. I personally believe that she neglected me and that she didn’t love me. So, to be loved by women was emotionally to me very important."

So his rage at being forsaken for a younger sibling lead to a lifetime of murder. How many abortionists and mass murderers have the same rage against their mothers or fathers? How much pain could those parents have spared the world if they had healed their own wounds and not taken out their own pain on their children? I would not be surprised if we found similar dysfunction in Dr Kermit Gosnell's childhood. Or Adolf Hitler's. So much pain caused by broken hearts of children  who never learn to love.

Please take your parenting role seriously, the hearts and minds and CONSCIENCES you are forming will have a much greater impact on the world than you can imagine.

Megyn Kelly's heated debate with Kermit Gosnell's attorney

Where Heaven Meets Earth - Trailer HD (2:15)

How to Win Hearts with Catholic Apologetics

Micah Murphy has an amusing and instructive post about the frustrating tactics we encounter in the New Evangelization.

Here we are in the midst of the New Evangelization and there are certainly other Pearls before Swine moments out there. Yet it must be possible for a person to prepare their debate opponent with some preliminary points so that they might be more ready for the Gospel. What are these Pearls before Swine moments and is there a way around them?
Note: I use the term “opponent” below technically, not uncharitably. Always be charitable to your opponent. You’re there to help them approach Christ.

And then there is a list of the most common tactics which we encounter.
Here is my answer:

As a pro-life apologist, I have encountered all these and more. But I am not discouraged, because Patrick Madrid once told me, speak to their hearts. That's where true conversion begins, and you may not see the change you make there at first, it may come only after years of reflection about what you and others have said, but if you speak to the heart, you are more likely to be successful at bringing about conversion down the road. Too often their pride keeps them from conceding your point in a debate, but God can penetrate that armor.
Don't forget God is already working on this person and possibly reminding them of your words (IF they were charitable!) over and over again, at opportune moments. That is why I read conversion stories, they give me hope, the person resisted truth for years and one day, one person's word or example was the straw which broke the camel's back.
This is why I met with infamous Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer in the quiet of his office on a Monday morning. I wanted to tell him my daughter with Down syndrome is a wonderful human being who enriches lives all around her, and to challenge his view that she has less value than an animal because of her IQ. I talked to Singer gently but firmly and left him with a copy of my book, 34 stories of Catholic parents who didn't want to raise Special needs children till God showed them what blessings they are (A Special Mother is Born). I still pray for Peter Singer a year later, and look for signs that God has done some work in his soul. Never give up, where there is life, there is hope God can reach a soul. We are only His instruments, He is the Divine Physician and Healer of the heart.

Imaculee Ilibagiza is an American Citizen

3801 Lancaster: The Kermit Gosnell horror story

Will Pope Francis be a Liberal or Conservative Pope?

I just watched a round table discussion headed by Chris Matthews with his type of Catholics who are enamored of the symbolism of Pope Francis's actions; taking the bus, walking through the streets to shake hands, etc . They are comfortable as most liberals are with the preferential option for the poor and are hoping against hope that Pope Francis will not be "all about sex as the two previous popes were". They obviously have not been listening to his words where he calls abortion a death penalty and said we should oppose it even if it means being persecuted. Or his assertion that children have a right to a mother and a father, which landed him a rebuke from Argentina's pro-gay marriage president Christina Fernandez de Kirchner. He is outspoken about the travesty of Catholic politicians who vote pro-abortion and present themselves for Holy Communion.

 Our new holy father lives in poverty and defends the rights of the poor, but is very bold in speaking the truth to power.  HuffPo gets it.

Pope Francis is a conservative who is anti-gay marriage and anti-gay adoption. He has described same-sex marriage as the work of the devil and a “destructive attack on God’s plan.” He has also said that gay adoption is a form of discrimination against children.

But Chris Matthews still thinks by wishing out loud he can influence the millenia old teachings of Christ which the Holy Father is entrusted with. His role is to explain Christianity to each generation in language which helps them to accept it, but some people are more open to learning than others. 

Keep dreaming that you can throw a coin or two at the poor Chris Matthews and continue to live in sexual sin without the Pope's loving correction. But also remember you capitalist types, this pope will challenge your crass materialism. Catholicism has no political party. It is an equal opportunity offender. May this be the Pope make both conservatives and liberals move beyond their comfort zones to encounter Christ, the real Christ, not the one they created in their own likeness. 

Watch the Conclave Live

"The Catholic Church wants women to be raped"

You've heard it before, the Pope wants millions to die of AIDS in Africa because he won't condone condoms, the Church protects pedophiles, the Pope resigned because he was about to be arrested. Lies, lies and more lies.They can't make up enough terrible things about the Church to erase her brave stand for morality and human dignity. 

Well, here is the latest lie about the Church coming from the UN and the truth C-FAM director Austin Ruse wants you to know. 

New reports rocketed around the world yesterday saying the Vatican is working with Russia and Iran to stop protections for women in violent situations. They are implying that the Catholic Church does not care about violence against women.
THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE FALSEHOOD.
There is a very important meeting going on at the UN right now called the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The purpose of the meeting is to write a document that will later be "ratified" by the UN General Assembly.
This meeting, called the CSW, is always the scene of much maliciousness, often directed at unborn children. The meeting is packed with 6,000 radical feminist activists.
The radicals are reporting, and this has been picked up by the mainstream press, that the Holy See is in cahoots with Iran and Russia to stymie efforts to protect women from violence. The purpose of these false charges is quite clear; it is to hurt the Church and her negotiating position in the current negotiations.
What is really going on is the Vatican is attempting to take abortion-related language out of the document. The Vatican is working with a number of states to remove "reproductive rights" from the document.
I URGE ALL REPORTERS, BLOGGERS, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, AND ACTIVISTS TO TELL YOUR READERS AND YOUR CONSTITUENCIES THAT THESE CHARGES ARE BASELESS LIES. DO IT NOW.

Cardinal Sandri calls for larger role for women in the Catholic Church

Women in the priesthood comments are found throughout the media, voiced largely by outsiders to the Catholic Church, either non-Catholics or those who have willingly distanced themselves from the Church, so when I read this headline, my visceral reaction was negative.

"They must have a much more important role in the life of the Church ... so that they can contribute to Church life in so many areas which are now, in part, open only to men ... This will be a challenge for us in the future," added the 69-year-old cardinal, who was interviewed in his office just outside St Peter's Square 

Why should women ask for a ministerial role in the Church; I bristled, what's the matter with the role of life giver and primary educator to future priests? But upon closer reading of the Cardinal's remarks, I softened my tone a bit. He was not suggesting that the Church open the priesthood or even the diaconate to women.

Women deserve to have more key positions in the Vatican administration "where they can make a very important contribution because of their qualifications," Sandri said, adding, "But they must also be co-participants in the dialogue and the analysis of the life of the Church and in (other) areas, even in the formation of priests, where they can play a very, very important role."

Currently, women in the Catholic Church cannot go beyond the position of under-secretary in Vatican departments, the number three post after president and secretary – which are open only to ordained men. At present, only two women are under-secretaries, one a nun and one a lay woman.

It must first be addressed that a majority of the women who have risen to positions of authority in the Church tend to be opposed to an all male priesthood, and the Church's moral teaching, they are largely feminist nuns or laywomen. They  have created a tension in the Church between factions which has not been a means of blessing to put it charitably. A priest friend reported that, while in the seminary, he was subjected to an art show containing obscene images of Our Lady and, when he refused to applaud such an outrage, he was promptly informed that his ordination was in jeopardy by the feminist behind the shameful display.
 This abuse of power by women in the Church is the reason orthodox Catholic women automatically reject the idea of a larger role for women in the Church. Well meaning bishops have allowed such dangerous women to assume leadership of many religious orders and diocesan offices. Catechism and adult faith formation have been deconstructed,  not to mention the decimation of religious orders, Catholic healthcare, and Catholic schools.We saw a sister in charge of the major conglomerate of Catholic hospitals sign on to Obamacare which we know contains mandatory funding and provision of contraception and abortion.

 We who joyfully embrace our Church for her exaltation of the role of women and veneration of the Blessed Virgin as a role model, are often too busy maintaining our Domestic Churches to take on larger roles in the Church. But the Internet can change that, as this blog proves.
 Women who embrace the doctrines of the Catholic Church are speaking out from the keyboards in our homes and, I believe are making a difference in what is said about the Church in the public square. We are giving testimony to the truth of papal documents our feminist forebears reviled for decades, like Humanae Vitae. We are testifying to the joys of family life lived in accordance with the fullness of truth found in the Catholic Church. We love our Church and want to strengthen her.  We have a lot to offer seminarians and even the Vatican, and, in increasing numbers, the Vatican is calling us to offer our experience and opinions. . I  know several women who attended Vatican conferences on women, the family, and social communication.  Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle, Lisa Hendey, Elizabeth Scalia, Mary Rice Hasson, Teresa Tomeo, Dr Janet E Smith, Helen Alvare, Pia Solemni, and Kathryn Lopez to name a few. These women and other dynamic women of faith write articles and books, appear on Catholic and secular media, and form the bulwark of the feminine contribution to the New Evangelization.
If the cardinals want to invite women to contribute to the administration of the Church and to offer guidance on what should be part of priestly formation, then I am most enthusiastically in favor of such women having a larger role in the Church. Why wouldn't I, when I began writing seven years ago in order to be a voice in support of the New Evangelization and the Culture of Life? I edited a book,  "A Special Mother is Born"  a collection of 34 stories from Catholic moms (and some dads) on how their children with special needs are blessings for their families, in hopes of addressing Catholic medical personnel, adminstrators, teachers, counselors,  and clergy to help guide them in their ministries to such families.
Our Lord spent the great majority of His life living with his closest family member, the Blessed Mother. She was his first teacher, and set into motion His first public miracle; the changing of water into wine at Cana. May she guide His Body, the Church into accepting women of strong, orthodox beliefs as adminstrators and advisors to help Holy Mother Church develop her quality of maternal tenderness for all her members.

Read the entire article from The Christian Post here.